"Lied about reading" Topic

Every so often a newspaper publishes a poll on books people lie about reading (you know, – finished War in Peace, loved Ulysses, have tastes higher brow than Da Vinci Code).

I wonder about the same for wargamers.

To keep it a bit focussed though, you have to actually OWN the book as well (so the 'lie' is real)
- intending on reading it 'shortly' counts, as does 'gave up part way through'.

I am expecting to see the Illiad, Polybius, Duffy's Instrument of War (no battles), Churchill's History of the Second World War (very long) – that sort of thing.

Mine is Clauswitz – I just can't face it for some reason, despite best intentions when I brought it.

(please note only the historical lists are cross posted to)

The Simmarillion by Tolkein. Which is odd because I've read The Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit probably a dozen times (honest) since my first encounter with Middle Earth as a teenager.

BigLee
link

War and Peace – never got past page 20 or so.

Pat

I've read a lot of the books you mention – the Iliad (I own a at least two dozen different translations), Churchill (twice), War & Peace (twice), Ulysses, and so on.

But I own a number of books in that vein that even while being much shorter I've never been able to get through:

* The Campaigns of Napoleon (I've read about 70% of it)
* Sun Tzu
* Longstreet's memoirs

Mark "Extra Crispy" Severin
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There are books I own that I haven't read and probably never will, and there are books that I probably should read but haven't and don't intend to, but I don't think I've ever lied about reading a book.

I thought it was just me…
All of the below, I DO own, so I am within the rules of the discussion.

I too have started and put down Clausewitz, War and Peacce, and the Silmarillion.

However, the Iliad is just so entertaining!
Churchill, on the other hand is hugely entertaining when he is …interesting. Too bad that he lacked editors strong willed enough to stand up to him and say "Winston, no one really cares about what Lord Shaftesbury had for lunch at Checkers the day that Baldwin forgot his umbrella."

Herodotus is just plain fun. I never read it cover to cover, but it is great to pick up and browse.
Livy is a pain to read. He is a cranky, miserable old man. I can't stand him.
I have never cracked the cover of Thucydides (or however he is spelled.)

Shelby Foote's Civil War is like opium. I have read it cover to cover, all 3500 pages, 4 times. It never gets old.

Federalist Papers. Yeah, right.
The Bible. Ditto.
Paradise lost. Snore.

Getting back to the title. I have bragging rights to owning a LOT of books I have never read, nor intend to.
That goes for a LOT of wargame rules too.

A lot of my Great Unread Library lies in the Great Books of the Western World series my parents got me some… geez, it must be 50 years old! And some of them have NEVER been touched!

Lying about reading a book is a lot like lying about having sex with somebody (especially when you're young). You only cheat yourself and you look like a fool when somebody calls you on it.

And for the record I have NEVER done either! 8)=

I can believe that Nazrat – you don't look like a reader.

Pat

I read War and Peace in bed with Kate Jackson. She was the Smart One.

Owning the book but just flicking through the pictures once or twice counts as part of the lie, BTW

(using them for painting doesn't though, so most Osprey's pass the test)

There is only one person I lie to about having read books – my wife.

She is a librarian and often brings home books she thinks I will like. Unfortunately she just doesn't understand "I'm in the middle of a project and if I read that and it's even half way decent I'll drop everything to start up a new period".

So I tell her I read the book. If I didn't I'd never finish painting anything. I blame it on low will power.

"I can believe that Nazrat – you don't look like a reader."

Well I guess that means I look like I HAVE had sex, then! 8)=

Thus spake Zarathrustra – tried to read it several times, never got past chapter 3. I will try again in a deserted island…
However, I've never said that I did read it!

Beevor's Stalingrad.

Being a bit sad I buy books and read them, they sit in a first in-first out queue waiting to be processed.

I don't own any military history books or rules I haven't read at least once (unless they are in the queue and haven't been processed yet).

I do occasionally get thrown novels that my wife thinks I'll enjoy, some are good, some aren't, some I ignore. I sometimes buy books and forget about them (which is why it helps to have a queue, I found not three days ago a copy of 'A Walk in the Sun' I'd bought at a car boot sale an forgotten about).

My wife also owns the Silmarillion and a signed copy of the Satanic Verses, but I've never read either.

I've never read any of the books mentioned in the OP, apart from the Da Vinci Code & War & Peace (the latter several times, for which I blame the 1970s TV adaptation with Anthony Hopkins). I did flick through Clausewitz once in the bookshop, same for Sun Tzu, and I knew I'd never read them.

Classics though, had a brief look at bits of Polybius and Tactitus, and realised I didn't care enough about Ancients wargaming to bother.

runs with SCISSORS… I am shocked. That's a cracking read.

I lent my Brother my Shelby Footes about 10 years ago, and he read one to bits, so much so that he had to buy me a new set and keep the falling-to-bits set.

I hadn't the Heart to tell him I hadn't read them… and haven't yet.

Each to their own.

Pat

I find reading so 20th century.

Two of Machiavelli's other works: The Art of War, and Discourses on Livy. I've read maybe half of each.

You should try War and Peace. I read it while on a major Summer exercise while in the military and found it really good. I remember it was hard to get into, but once you get used to all the Russian names, it was like one fascinating soap opera.

Silmarillion, I could never finish. I disliked the biblical sort of tone Tolkien got into with LOTR, especially in the third book and Silmarillion was more of the same, ugh.
--
Tim

I'm with nazrat. Why would anyone lie about reading? Doesn't make sense.

I think the only books I have that I haven't read are Umberto Eco's last two novels.

Allen

Maybe that's why it's pronounced a LIEbrary.

There are many books on my shelves that I have not read. I never lie about it, however. Many were purchaced on the basis of "I now have money and this book before me at a good price. Will this opportunity come again?"

Clauswitz; War and Peace; Sun Tzu; yes I have them and did not complete them.

I find books like "Remarks on Cavalry" by Emanuel von Warney in original form, as the f is used instead of the s and just that periods writing hard for me to continue.

I read a fair amount; four bookslast week, received a book in the mail and stayed uptill I finished it.
Problem is my retension isn't so good.
I have lots of books I haven't read, boxes and bookshelves full, a lot were for referenece purposes.
In one spot I have stacked recent purchases and from the floor they are stacked above the light switch.

I used to hesitate buying books and then regret when they were available later on or had gone way up in price.
But I share my books with trusted friends.

I have never lied about reading a book, don't think I even did it in school.

I'd be more likely to say that I hadn't read a book that I actually had, like keeping quiet about owning certain 1980s pop records.

I have read all but the last 50 pages of War and Peace which, I discovered too late, were missing from the second hand copy that I borrowed from the mother-in-law who kept in the toilet as a joke (no I didn't get it either). I didn't bother to source another copy to finish it.

War and Peace is easier with a score card for the names. Took me 5 or 6 tries to figure that out.

Overall, the curse of being a moderately slow reader has led me to admit to myself that I probably don't have time to read all of the books that I've bought over the years. I will be giving many to the University Library.

Some I bought with no intention of reading, "Arming the Eagle," published by the Defense Acquisition College, Oman's "Studies in the Pennisular War" first edition, "Mien Kampf" in German.

I've read Caesar's Gallic War in the original Latin….ok, I gave that up quickly but I did read it in English.

I'm another who agrees with nazrat. I read a lot, easily enough to exchange book recommendations with people who follow the same subject matters. And yet there are so many books left to read, some of which I don't even want to. So for an unfamiliar subject matter it seems outright foolish to think I could impress someone knowledgeable by lying about having read a book. I'd much rather ask them what to read.

For the record, I've read The Silmarillion multiple times. The first time was difficult; years later I realized I had acquired it in a period when I had forgotten how to appreciate Tolkien, but I eventually went back to it with the proper outlook and was well rewarded. And also for the record, the recent expanded excerpt The Children of Hurin is also well rewarding, especially in how favorably it compared to a populist derivative modern fantasist I was attempting to read at the same time.

I do think the topic is a little misleading.

There are many authors where I've only read a key work (often due to a course reading list), or sometimes merely enough key passages to become familiar with the book and able to cite it. For instance, for Machiavelli, I've read The Prince and excerpts from his other works. For Sartre, I've read a collection containing the play "No Exit". For Julius Caesar, I've read (actually struggled with the Latin) some of his Gallic Wars, and skimmed the rest in translation.

Conversations have happened where some snooty person has tried to shut me out by saying "well, if you've read Sartre, you would understand [some obvious existential point]" or "I could explain more but you'd have to know Machiavelli" or "Caeasar's campaigns were really about [some controversial issue]". Thankfully now that I'm grown up I do not find myself in these sorts of conversations frequently.

But I do not feel I am lying to reply to these people "I've read Machiavelli" or "I've read Sartre" or "I've read Caesar" followed with "… so what do you mean exactly?"

i must admit i do try and finish all the books i read
and as i once read Alexander the first never finished a
book ……….(still dont finish em all.i wish i had Martins willpower!!.its all about TIME really.we had a
thread on TMP about how many books we can read in a life
time………what please me is that i love all the "picture"
books of Napoleonic Uniforms ,coperneric etc and as its in french i consider it read once all the battle scenes have
been visually digested. guess thats cheating a bit but most
of the Napoleonic Wars is a visual thing i believe anyway.

im off to buy the new 1807 book……..asthetically stunning

"Lying about reading a book is a lot like lying about having sex with somebody"

A defense for lying…

People lie about stuff like this to cover up a sense of inadequacy. People on this board are very well read. And let's face it, can be pretty snotty to those who aren't at times. So some people on this very well read board may not be so very well read so as to avoid the snottiness.

I'll agree that lying about sex when your a full grown adult is silly. Who cares. But it's not such a silly venture if you're an akward teen tired of being picked on.

Perspective gentlemen. Take a step out of your skin for a minute and have a look around.

I usually brag about books I HAVEN'T read. The one I'm most proud of is Return of the King. I was halfway through The Two Towers when my sister and all her friends finshed the triligoy and told me all about it. I saw the movie though and thought it was much better.

Have Clausewitz (two copies, actually) which I have leafed thru but never read cover to cover

Have Thucydides which I went thru – pity it ended before the war did, tho

I have Grant's memoirs which I keep meaning to read

I also have With Fire and Sword, which I keep getting 2/3 of the way thru

Biggest lie: Axelrod's "The Evolution of Cooperation". Seminal book for PoliSci, I have been quizzed on it, and read the follow up literature, but never the book itself. But when a Prof. always asks me I say I have read it.

I tend to read through most historical books I own(even if it takes a long time). Grapes of Wrath may be the only book I have started and never finished, which I claim I have read.

I can't say I actually 'lied' about reading a book.

I do recall getting tired of listening to an ardent Catholic Priest going on and on about Darwin and why his theories were bunk. So I said to him, "If you had bothered to read Darwin's book . . .". Shut him up big time.

Well I have never read anything Darwin wrote but, apparently neither had the priest :-)).

Does that count?

mjc

I've read "On War" a couple of times -- It's anything by JRRRRRRR Tolkien I can't finish..

I've got loads of books, including plenty I've never read. My library of about 1,000 books is analogous to my pile of unpainted lead. There isn't a single book or a single figure that I don't plan to read/paint. I also paint every day and read every day, some days more than others.

Some of the most noteworthy books I haven't read-a family heirloom copy of U.S. Grant's memoirs, David Dixon Porter's Naval History of the Civil War.

I'm going to sort of break the rules, because I parted with the books long ago, but anything by Douglas Southall Freeman, I simply could not get through.

K.

Yes, in my "library", I've only read about 1/3 … so far …

I think I have over 1,000 books in my library, and can honestly say, I have tried to read all of them….even the "Complete works of Shakespeare(could not finish)". I am also a high school dropout, who has received his GED, gone to college, and spent 24 years in the military around the world. I have made time to read, and really love it. I have read Foote, Tolstoi, Caeser, Homer, Tolkien, etc. many times. Reading is a great way to put yourself in the time and place you are reading about, if you use your imagination. I think that is one of the reasons I like this hobby so much. Anything is possible.

Catch 22. I got half way through, and I just don't care about anyone or thing in it, so I gave up on it.

I'm not sure I told anyone I finished it though…

such great responses.

Thanks all.

Must say though, I am surprised no one on the 18th century board admits not reading Duffy's first one on the Austrian Army – it has no battles, but looks great, is clearly a 'must have' for the period and was the
prime instigator for the question – The copy I picked up 2nd hand came from someone who hadn't read it, and a club member also admitted not reading it but owning it, despite having 2 Austrian 7YW armies in two separate scales.

I'm reading it now over breakfast, and it reminds me a lot of being an undergraduate doing background reading on something before your main reading (which would be volume 2 with the battles in) can begin.

I am having to read the Iliad for an Open University course right now and I can safely say that it is more fun to read when you don't actually have to read it. I tend not to have unread books on my shelves, I keep the unread books on a bedside cabinet and add new books to the bottom of the pile. As they get read they go on the shelves and if the pile is in imminent danger of collapse I stop buying until it gets more stable.

Unread books are like unpainted lead. If you actually finished reading them all, you might just drop dead…

Galvinm

as i live in the UK i wondered what GED stood for?

regards
GED
some graduate deploma i guess

GED, General Educational Development. a.k.a. the high school (secondary education) equivalency test. Someone who has dropped out of high school can take this test to certify that they have an equivalent level of education.

thanks for that ADub74!!

regards
Ged

I'm currently in college. Does this count?

For some of my classes I've purchased the book, then sold it back without reading it, and still get an A or B in the class.

There appears to be a difference here.

We can agree that it is pointless to lie about reading a book.

There are books out there that we are told we should read and have no intetion of reading.

It would be James – History of the Bitish Navy in the Napoleonic War.

We do have books on our selves we have either – not been able to finish for some reason.

The Silmarillion, The Bible (only read it because of my English Gammer School). I have not been able to finish Scott Bowden's "Austerlitz". Duffy "Feldmarschall Browne" – in fairness this was in German. I've also never read all of "Battles and Leaders" – all five volumns.

Books we plan to read, but have not managed to get round to reading yet.

Duffy "By Force of Arms". Yes I did read and enjoy "Instrument of War"

Only for school…

Many posters on TMP clearly lie about having read all of the preceding posts in the thread they are adding to.

I once answered a matriculation (roughly A Level) exam question on Orwells 1984 & Animal Farm without having read either. In my own defence I had seen the movies, was familiar with the themes & had read a lot of Orwells other work. I still got an A.

Still haven't read Animal Farm, but have read 1984.

I read a lot. The only book to defeat me so far is Ulysses but one day….